State lawmakers in Missouri just undercut wages for 38,000 workers in St. Louis

Last week, Missouri’s governor announced that he will let a preemption law take effect, prohibiting cities from requiring a minimum wage higher than the state’s—nullifying the city of St. Louis’s minimum wage ordinance and effectively lowering the city’s minimum wage from $10 down to $7.70. With this law, lawmakers have potentially undone raises for roughly 31,000 workers in St. Louis who received a raise when the city’s ordinance took effect in May, and likely stopped scheduled raises for those same 31,000 workers plus another 7,000 workers, for a total of 38,000 workers who would have gotten a pay increase when the city’s minimum wage was scheduled to rise to $11 an hour in January. (Minimum wage increases typically also lead to raises for workers slightly above the new minimum wage. The estimates here do not include these “spillover” effects.)

It is impossible to know how many of the 31,000 St. Louis workers who were directly affected when the city’s minimum wage rose from to $10.00 will now see their pay cut, but some may. Workers can only hope that their employers will not roll back their raises. For some, that raise may have been the key difference in affording a new apartment rental, car payment, or similar long-term financial commitment. In any case, anyone starting out in the St. Louis workforce, or any low-wage worker considering changing jobs, is likely to find that most opportunities pay less than they would have had the ordinance remained in effect.

The table below shows the demographic characteristics of the workers whose raises are now in jeopardy. The majority of affected workers are women (56 percent) and the overwhelming majority (over 90 percent) are adults, age 20 or older. The majority of these workers work full time. More than one in four have children. In fact, state lawmakers have now jeopardized pay that supports nearly 23,000 children in the St. Louis area, whose parents would have gotten a raise to $11 next January. By definition, these workers are the lowest paid workers in the St. Louis economy. Roughly half are either in poverty or living with family incomes less than 200 percent of the poverty line.

Minimum wage

Missouri state lawmakers are undercutting raises for 38,000 workers: Workers affected by St. Louis minimum wage increase to $10, and projected under scheduled increase to $11

Increase to $10 (May 5, 2017)

Increase to $11 (scheduled for Jan 1, 2018)

Category

Estimated workforce

Directly affected

Share of category

Share of affected workers

Estimated workforce

Directly affected

Share of category

Share of affected workers

Total

251,800

30,900

12.3%

100.0%

252,200

38,300

15.2%

100.0%

Sex

Female

123,000

17,500

14.2%

56.6%

123,200

21,500

17.5%

56.1%

Male

128,900

13,400

10.4%

43.4%

129,000

16,700

12.9%

43.6%

Age

Age 20 or older

246,700

28,400

11.5%

91.9%

247,000

35,700

14.5%

93.2%

Under 20

5,200

2,500

48.1%

8.1%

5,200

2,600

50.0%

6.8%

Less than 25

26,100

9,700

37.2%

31.4%

26,100

10,600

40.6%

27.7%

25 to 39

92,300

11,700

12.7%

37.9%

92,400

15,600

16.9%

40.7%

40 to 54

82,000

4,900

6.0%

15.9%

82,100

5,900

7.2%

15.4%

Age 55 or older

51,500

4,700

9.1%

15.2%

51,500

6,200

12.0%

16.2%

Race/ethnicity

White, non-Hispanic

156,500

12,900

8.2%

41.7%

156,800

14,900

9.5%

38.9%

Black or African American

77,400

15,000

19.4%

48.5%

77,500

19,600

25.3%

51.2%

Hispanic, any race

7,400

1,400

18.9%

4.5%

7,400

2,000

27.0%

5.2%

Asian or other race/ethnicity

10,500

1,500

14.3%

4.9%

10,500

1,800

17.1%

4.7%

Education

Less than high school

12,800

3,600

28.1%

11.7%

12,800

4,400

34.4%

11.5%

High school

55,000

11,000

20.0%

35.6%

55,100

14,900

27.0%

38.9%

Some college, no degree

59,500

10,200

17.1%

33.0%

59,600

11,000

18.5%

28.7%

Associates degree

23,500

2,500

10.6%

8.1%

23,500

3,300

14.0%

8.6%

Bachelor’s degree or higher

101,000

3,500

3.5%

11.3%

101,200

4,700

4.6%

12.3%

Family status

Married parent

69,400

3,400

4.9%

11.0%

69,500

4,900

7.1%

12.8%

Single parent

29,700

4,700

15.8%

15.2%

29,700

5,500

18.5%

14.4%

Married, no kids

46,800

3,300

7.1%

10.7%

46,800

4,100

8.8%

10.7%

Single, no kids

106,000

19,600

18.5%

63.4%

106,100

23,600

22.2%

61.6%

Work hours

Part time (< 20 hours per week)

10,300

2,100

20.4%

6.8%

10,300

2,100

20.4%

5.5%

Mid time (20–34 hours per week)

30,400

10,900

35.9%

35.3%

30,400

11,900

39.1%

31.1%

Full time (35+ hours per week)

211,200

18,000

8.5%

58.3%

211,500

24,200

11.4%

63.2%

Poverty status

In poverty

16,400

7,400

45.1%

23.9%

16,400

7,500

45.7%

19.6%

101-200% poverty

29,900

8,900

29.8%

28.8%

29,900

11,200

37.5%

29.2%

201-400% poverty

80,400

10,200

12.7%

33.0%

80,500

13,900

17.3%

36.3%

400%+ poverty

123,900

3,800

3.1%

12.3%

124,100

5,100

4.1%

13.3%

Missing poverty status

1,300

500

38.5%

1.6%

1,300

500

38.5%

1.3%

Family income

Less than $25,000

23,000

8,900

38.7%

28.8%

23,000

9,400

40.9%

24.5%

$25,000 – $49,999

47,200

9,200

19.5%

29.8%

47,300

12,700

26.8%

33.2%

$50,000 – $74,999

53,100

6,600

12.4%

21.4%

53,100

8,800

16.6%

23.0%

$75,000 – $99,999

35,700

2,400

6.7%

7.8%

35,800

3,000

8.4%

7.8%

$100,000 – $149,999

50,400

1,700

3.4%

5.5%

50,500

2,100

4.2%

5.5%

$150,000 or more

42,500

2,100

4.9%

6.8%

42,600

2,200

5.2%

5.7%

Children with at least one affected parent

145,500

18,900

13.0%

145,700

22,700

15.6%

Note: Estimated workforce describes employed ACS respondents ages 16 and older for whom a valid hourly wage can be determined, and who reported working in the city of St. Louis, regardless of their place of residence. Directly affected workers are those that would otherwise have had hourly wages below the specified wage value. Totals may not sum due to rounding.

Unfortunately, the practice of Republican state lawmakers undoing the will of urban voters and their duly-elected representatives in city government is a growing trend. This smacks of hypocrisy from a party that typically champions the idea of local control—except when such control gives ordinary workers a stronger voice or greater bargaining power with their employers.

City governments are stepping in to enact higher minimum wages primarily because other levels of government have been negligent on this issue. Pay has been falling for low-wage workers for decades because of federal and state lawmakers’ failure to more adequately raise minimum wages. At $7.25 an hour, the federal minimum wage is now worth 25 percent less than it was worth at its high point in the late 1960s. Missouri’s $7.70 state minimum wage is 20 percent below this peak.

If state legislators do not want a gap between the minimum wage in St. Louis and the rest of the state, rather than undoing the higher standard that St. Louis set for itself, they should simply raise the state minimum wage. It is certainly long overdue.

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